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Overview

WHICH PATH IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

There are thousands of ways to make money in the stock market. The dilemma is NOT finding one that works, but rather, finding one that works for YOU. For most people the journey to finding the right method that meets their financial objectives, time constraints, personalities, interests and abilities, takes years. This site is intended to be an educational tool to assist individual investors in improving their trading methodology, money management skills, and honing an individual investment style that meets their own unique financial objectives and trading personality. In short, cutting a few years off the journey.

This site is a compilation of tools, rules, charts and observations that I have found useful over the past thirty-plus years. My purpose is not to make my methodology yours, but rather provide you with a box of tools from which you can select the tools you feel best suite your methodology, goals and personal comfort level. The proper tools will allow you to more quickly formulate your own investment style.

THE PATH OF THE UNRULY DOG

M y methodology is my own, or more properly, my own combination the methods of other great investors. I have plucked the fruits of what works best for me from the likes of William J. O’Neil, Ian Woodward, Jesse Livermore and Luiz Alvim. I also utilize some unique observations I have made, and paid for, on my own over the past 30+ years.Many of the charts that are presented are unique, or present commonly available data in a graphically unique way. The focus of the charts is to identify the “preponderance of evidence” as to the current trend of the market and selected industry groups, and their proximity to any turning points.Suggestions, questions and comments are always welcomed because there is no such thing as a finished product. I expect this web site to evolve over the coming years into a more useful, user friendly resource for the individual investor.

CHARTS

Charts are the pictures that are worth a thousand words and often show the next price trend well before the reason why makes it into printed media. As Jesse Livermore said, it is

“…folly… trying to find out a “good reason” why you should buy or sell a given stock. If you wait until you have the reason given you, you will have missed the opportunity of having acted at the proper time!”

Charts provide a visual picture of the crowd psychology for a given market, index or security, and to the atune speculator, provide the “good reason” why you should buy or sell a given stock.

The majority of my charts are updated on a weekly basis each Friday. I feel Friday action is important to the market because it is on each Friday that every investor, large or small, answers the question: Do I want to be in the market over the weekend? If there is greed in the air and most investors feel anxious that they may be missing an opportunity by waiting until Monday, then it will show up on Friday’s charts. The same is true with fear and a feeling of an impending or continuing down turn. Whether it be fear or greed, the picture will be painted on Friday’s canvas.

THE TRIAD OF SUCCESSFUL TRADING & INVESTING

My journey has distilled the process into three key elements, a triad for successful investing:

Self Assessment

Methodology

Money Management

Self assessment is the first step because it influences the other two components. We are all different and if you do not know yourself, your constraints, your likes and your dislikes, you can end up with a trading methodology that is more stressful than successful.

Your methodology involves your evaluation methods, the selection and timing of your entries and your exits. It tells you what to buy, when to buy, and when to sell.

Many would say that money management is really part of your methodology, but I have seen it so ignored in recent years, and I feel it is so important, that I believe it warrants being addressed as a topic by it self. Money management has to do with the dollar size of your entries, your stop methodology, other exit rules, and portfolio position sizing.

SELF ASSESSMENT

“He who knows much about others may be learned, but he who understands himself is more intelligent. He who controls others may be more powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier, still.” – Lao-tzu

Every successful journey contains three elements; the knowledge of where you are, the goal of where you want to go, and the path that connects the two. Self assessment is the first step of the journey, the determination of where you are. Without performing an in depth self assessment, one is apt to find themselves in the midst of an investment methodology that works great, but produces so much stress that they cannot sleep at night. Or, the method may be in tune with your life style but produces less than the desired results.

A thorough, objective self assessment will help lead you to the investment methodology that best suits your current financial situation, personality and time you have available to spend on your portfolio. In addition to the obvious financial self assessment, an examination of several other considerations play a large part in determining your own investment methodology. Your interest level is key to determining how much time you spend on your portfolio.

Do you find investing fascinating, or is it more like watching the grass grow?
Do you spend over an hour every night pouring over your investments, or do you only look at your portfolio once a month when your brokers statement arrives?
Do you enjoy dissecting a company’s financial statements, or do you find them to be the best cure for insomnia?
Do you enjoy studying charts, or can you not tell a trend line from the bottom line?
Do you prefer managing your portfolio entirely on your own, or would you prefer to have a professional manage your money, and come to you periodically with recommendations and ideas?

There truly are thousands of ways to make money in the market. All successful investors have the elements of the Triad of Successful Trading & Investing in common. You need only to settle on one methodology, make it your own and stick to it, to become successful.